Personio becomes unicorn

And the next billion-euro valuation: the Munich-based start-up Personio has received 103 million euros in a recent financing round. This increases its valuation to 1.4 billion euros.

The year is only three weeks old and the third German start-up is already announcing a valuation in excess of one billion euros. The Munich-based start-up Personio has received 103 million euros in a recent financing round and is now valued at 1.4 billion euros.

The round was led by existing investor Index Ventures, which has also invested in successful companies such as Slack and Dropbox in the past. Other investors include Accel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Northzone, Global Founders Capital and Picus Capital. Since 2015, the start-up has been offering HR software that organizes payroll accounting, recruiting and personnel administration, primarily for small and medium-sized companies. According to the company, it currently has 3,000 customers who are supported by 600 employees at four locations. By the end of the year, this figure is set to rise to 1,000 employees. New markets such as France and Italy are also to be developed.

Just last year, Personio raised 75 million euros and expanded into countries such as Spain, Ireland, the UK and Scandinavia. Founder and CEO Hanno Renner expressed his motivation to Handelsblatt: "However, this valuation only reflects a fraction of our potential. There is no reason why we shouldn't be valued at 20 or 40 billion one day." In his view, an IPO is a logical next step, but not in the next two years.

A new investor from Silicon Valley was also involved in the current round: Meritech. It is confident in its investment: "We have had the pleasure of working with some of the most successful SaaS companies in the world, and given Personio's success over the last five years and its immense market potential, we firmly believe that Personio can build a business that is as successful as it is impactful," says Alex Clayton, Partner at Meritech.